Monday, February 7, 2011

(Birdcage Bottom) I'm most familiar with Yost from his Snoop Dogg dream comics books, so I was happy to see a broader swathe of his work. Old Man Winter is a collection of previously published works, and the title story, a vignette about the melancholy mundanity of a widower's life, is a pretty great exercise in visual narrative. The rest of the book, some of which is kind of preachy, is not as strong. However, Losers Weepers really has Yost reaching a higher level of awesomeness, leaving his best D-O-doubleG dreamscapes in the dream dust. Taking (finding?) a page out of Found Magazine Yost has collected notes, abandoned journals, letters, elementary school essays, and lyrics he found on the street and reprinted them not only so we can see them in their original glory, but also so he can have a jumping off point to weave an intricate tragic tale of intertwining humanity. Like an improv exercise that didn't result in unwatchable drivel (which is as rare as a dodo siting) this experiment amazingly yields moving, honest portraits of sad, complex, beautiful people, not only drawn well but drawn out as three-dimensional folks, a rarity in the comix medium. Of course, it makes sense that finding revealing snatches of real life would inspire an artist to "get real," but few would have the capacity to do it. I hope Yost continues finding and sharing, so us readers can become weeping winners. (Weeping because the stories are sad, winning because they get to read good comics. Sorry if that was unclear)